Healthy vision is essential for a child’s development, learning, and life-long well-being. At present, the U.S. does not have a national program dedicated to children’s vison and eye health, leading to gaps in care, surveillance, and best practices. The Early Detection of Vision Impairments for Children (EDVI) Act seeks to change that.
Our Priority: Passing the EDVI Act
The Early Detection of Vision Impairments for Children (EDVI) Act would create the first dedicated program in the United States to improve children’s vision and eye health. It would provide grants to states and national guidance in best practices that lead to systems of care that ensure every child with a potential vision problem is identified, referred to eye care, and receives the resources they need to learn, grow, and thrive.
Passing the EDVI Act would mark a national commitment to protect children’s eyesight. It recognizes that vision is a core part of healthy childhood development, and it sets in motion the resources to help children with vision problems see as well as they possibly can.
A Dedicated Program for Children’s Vision
Other aspects of sensory health, such as oral and hearing health, have dedicated programs that focus on optimizing healthy outcomes for young children and adolescents. Vision problems and eye health in children currently do not have a dedicated program; thus, it is often overlooked as a public health priority. We believe children’s vision and eye health deserve the same level of focused attention as other aspects of child health and development. The EDVI Act is modeled on the bipartisan Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program, which according to EHDI program outcomes, has sharply increased hearing screening rates, referrals to care, and support services for young children with hearing and communication disorders since 1999.
The EDVI Act is co-led in the U.S. House of Representatives by the Republican and Democratic co-chairs of the Congressional Vision Caucus. Hear from them on why children’s vision matters.
Go Deeper
Why A National Program Matters
A child’s vision develops and changes from birth through childhood and into adulthood. That means kids need timely screening, referral to eye care, and follow-up, so vision problems are caught and treated before they cause permanent vision loss.
Early detection is already part of national goals for children’s health. But no U.S. program specifically coordinates children’s vision the way we already do for other parts of child health, including hearing, oral, physical, and behavioral health.
Today, children’s vision is usually addressed at the margins of other programs, without the resources to do it well. So it often gets deprioritized or overlooked, especially at the state and community level where it matters most. The result is eye health outcomes and access to care that are fragmented and uneven across the country.
The Children’s Vision Gap Across States
As of 2024, only 39 states require vision screening for school-age children, and just 26 states require it for preschool-age children.
But having a screening policy on the books doesn’t guarantee children get connected to the right eye care at the right time. State approaches to screening, referral, and follow-up vary widely and are often outdated. Many lack protocols to confirm a child actually received care, or to address why they didn’t, whether that’s a shortage of providers, lack of insurance, or cost.
States also rarely have sustained resources to keep these systems running and improving. The result is significant disparities in children’s vision outcomes across the country. We believe every child should have access to eye care, no matter their circumstances or zip code, and that states should be equipped to sustain that work overtime.
What EDVI Will Do
Once the EDVI Act is passed and funded, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) would award competitive grants to states and communities, including territories and tribal organizations, to build statewide early detection and intervention programs for children’s vision. Grantees would use the funding to carry out at least three of these six activities:
- Implement evidence-based, age-appropriate early detection and intervention practices that identify vision concerns in children
- Build state-level data collection and management systems
- Improve eye health outcomes, expand access to eye care, reduce disparities, and address barriers to care
- Raise public awareness about the importance of addressing children’s vision problems
- Coordinate a public health system across the state that spans early detection, referral, diagnosis and intervention, and follow-up
- Provide referrals to vision services that support independent living
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would also run a national center offering resources to any state or community working to improve children’s vision programs, whether or not it receives a grant.
The EDVI Act also fosters collaboration across the Department of Health and Human Services and with the Department of Education, so children’s vision fits naturally into existing efforts like school-based health and Head Start, and aligns with research priorities at the National Eye Institute.
